Zildari
The 2nd Confederacy of Zildari is a large, socially progressive nation, currently led by President Bolar Tannenbaum with an even hand, and notable for its compulsory gun ownership, monthly referendums, and general absence of drug laws. The hard-nosed, hard-working, democratic population of 161.3 million Zildarians have some civil rights, but not too many, enjoy the freedom to spend their money however they like, to a point, and take part in free and open elections, although not too often. The relatively small government juggles the competing demands of Industry, Defense, and Education. Citizens pay a tiered tax based on income, varying from 7.5% at lowest to 15.0% at highest. The frighteningly efficient Zildarian economy, with a Total Purchasing Power Parity of roughly 14.4 trillion Denarii a year, is broadly diversified and led by significant contributions from the Agricultural Sector, Arms Manufacturing industry, and Retail giants. Average income is an impressive 55,602.43 Denarii, with the richest citizens (top 0.1%) earning an average of 343,350 Denarii. Government reports and congressional bills are now used to teach toddlers to read, retail boutiques encourage citizens to honor their military veterans by purchasing flag-patterned underwear, translators have been hired to deal with the varying regional accents during national political debates, and people believe that if you teach a man to fish he won't buy fish from you any more. Crime is at an all-time low, due in part to a small but effective police force. Zildari's national animal is the Porcupine, which frolics freely in the nation's lush forests, and its national religion is Taterism. Etymology In the ancient Princedom of Artor (an extinct nation formerly bordering modern day Potatostan, Keoter, and Urgeth along their southern borders), polytheism reigned. One of their myriad dieties was the Sun God Zil, who smiled upon the Paelics of the Far North with whom the Artosians would occasionally make war. The term "dar" in Serbian means "gift", and so if one considers the Keotan dialect (which slurs "dar" to "dari") alongside historical context, the term "Zildari" translates most exactly to "Zil's Gift". However, to the Rasian scribes and various layfolk of the era, the lands which bordered the mighty rivers Jorn and Tulber quickly came to be known as the "Gift of the Sun", a nod to the rich soil and overall fertility promoted therein. It should be noted that the term Zildari has thus existed for much, much longer than any unified nation bearing the same name - and as such has much deeper roots than one might first suppose when studying the people of the 2nd Confederacy for the first time. As a demonstration of this, even whilst citizens of independent nations, most Dowhleans, Urgench, and Keotans all still considered themselves a part of the Zildarian region, and therefore Zildarian by extension. History Zildarian Regimes - Timelines through History Central Government * Homestead Union - 1992 (194 years) * 1st Confederacy - 2017 (25 years) * 2nd Confederacy - present (> 1 year) Regional Sovereign Governments * Exiled 'Moira Dowhlea' 1940 - Nov 1947 (7 years) * The Free State of Gruklin - 1919 (346 years) Geography Demographics Government Both Confederacies of Zildari have been representative democracies, within which majority rule has been held in check by individual rights well-established in Common Law and partially enshrined in the Unionist Affirmation of Rights (1798). Those governments remain regulated by a system of checks and balances built into the Constitutional Compact of 1992, which has served as the country's preeminent legal text for nearly 26 years. The three levels of administration are outlined by that Constitutional Compact to be federal, state, and local. Local government responsibilities are typically divvied up betwixt counties and municipalities, and in a majority of cases executive and legislative officials have been elected by the Threshold-Wipe Transfer (Late H.U. & 1st Confederacy) or Top 3 Wave (2nd Confederacy) method of voting. The 2nd Confederacy - Structure As of September 2017, the federation consisted of 7 states, whose federal government convened in the capital city of Gererum. That federal government, as well as all lower levels of administration, is divided into three separate branches: legislative, executive, and judicial. Federal Government Branches Overview The current federal government branches are summarized as follows: * Legislative: The bicameral Zildarian Congress consists of the Federal Senate and the House of Representatives, whose primary duties include passing federal law, approving treaties, allocating tax revenue, nullifying unjust wars, and exercising the power of impeachment. It should be noted that the ability to set tax rates does not rest with the legislature directly, but instead resides within the Chamber of Commerce, a bureaucratic entity whose chief council consists of a Presidential-appointed Secretary and (4) Federal Senators selected for the additional duty by way of direct vote by the populace. * Executive: The President of Zildari is the Sole Director of the Armed Services, can veto legislative bills before they become law (subject to Congressional override), and is responsible for appointing various members of the Executive and Judicial branches (subject to Senate approval) who administer and enforce federal laws and policies. * Judicial: The Supreme Court of Zildari and the Federal District Courts have their Justices appointed by the President (subject to Senate approval). It is the primary duty of these courts to interpret federal law (overturning any laws found to be unconstitutional), as well as to oversee Impeachment cases against the President or other high-ranking government officials. Federal Legislature: The Zildarian Congress * House of Representatives: Each voting member of the Zildarian House of Representatives hails from a Congressional Voting District (VD) of strictly between 1.5 million to 3 million voters, alongside 3 other Representatives from the same VD. Currently, the House consists of 232 voting members for 58 voting districts, each serving a Term of 3 years. VDs are apportioned and redrawn amongst the states every Census (5 years), and the Constitutional Compact sets a 4 term limit to any given Representative. As of the September 2017 elections, the least populous state of Gruklin retained the smallest number of VDs at 5, while the most populous – Urgeth – held a grand total of 11 VDs, narrowly edging out Dowhlea’s 10. It is important to note that the Representative which earned the highest percent of the vote during their election is deemed the VD Leader, and sits on the Confirmation Committee for that State's Federal Senator selection, among any other duties a state may see fit to bestow. * Federal Senate: Contrary to the population-basis of the House, in the Federal Senate every member state has equal voting weight. There are 35 Federal Senators of Zildari, each serving a Term of 6 years, with 5 Senators hailing from each of the 7 states of the 2nd Confederacy; elections are currently staggered such that every seat is up for election at least once every 6 years, and hence a new Congress is declared every 6 years. Instead of being elected by the populace directly, each state's five Federal Senators are elected via state Legislatures, via a method of their choosing, though the final step must be 2/3 majority approval by the State's Confirmation Committee. Important Federal Bureaucracies * The Chamber of Commerce ** Ivory Customs Office (ICO - CoC; Ivory Subcommittee - Congressional) * Teh Bailebrachen (Zildarian intelligence agency) State Governments * Gruklin * Joila * Berwic * Gererum * Dowhlea * Urgeth * Keoter Important Faces: Heads of State (Sept. 2017) Economy Culture Tuber Toss Each year, the border towns of Peruna and Hosnoth (of Xelha and Zildari, respectively), host a weekend-long event where citizens have a giant food fight, tossing potatoes and sweetvech at each other across their shared international border to prove the inherent superiority of their favorite tuber. Attendance has grown ever-higher each year since its inception roughly ten years ago, and the festival recently became a truly international event as in 2017 ambassadors from the Community flew in competitors via helicopter to participate and a large troupe of Rasians built a giant fort within the center of the tossing zone. Infrastructure Space Program MoonPot Limited Liability Corporation (MP.LLC) acts as Zildari's leading private sector space program, as the government does not operate a national space program. Its budget for its founding year (2018) came to 26.4 billion Denarii, with significant investments from abroad (most notably from Old Ras, the United States Federation, Youttlesover, and Nanhua). Category:Nation